Welcome to a new episode of this save with Barakaldo.

A brief recap of last episode: we were defeated by Valencia in the Copa Del Rey Quarter-Finals, and we are left to focus on Primera Division only.
We will be covering from matchday 20 to 28.

Game 20

Barakaldo 2 – Valencia 1

Ibañez needs some playing time so it’s time to bring him in

Lineup changes:

Iñaki Ibañez for Dani Alonso

Agustin Exposito for Xabier Pantzeska

Apparently the Thursday game took its toll on Valencia’s players as we’re the ones leading the charge in the first half. We are very keen on the night and between Dani and Zamarripa sandwich a Chiesa goal as we hang on to take the win and valuable 3 points for the standings.

Game 21

Real Madrid 2 – Barakaldo 0

Lineup changes:

Aitor Iru for Gorka Sangroniz
Domingo Larrainzar for Luis Eduardo Dadie (suspended for two matches after his red card against Zaragoza)

Under the blinding lights and the huge murmur of Santiago Bernabeu’s stadium, we failed to deliver a good performance. Real Madrid couldn’t break our resilience in the first half despite being the dominant team. Unluckily our efforts were futile as we caved in minutes 61 and 67 when Joao Pinto and Fernando Sanchez scored.

Our next match is against Betis, and previously they played against Barcelona for the European Super Cup. The result was a great surprise, considering the level and quality of Barcelona’s squad (who are currently running first in Primera Division).

Holy moly, what are up to?

Game 22

Barakaldo 1 – Betis 3

Well, it wasn’t seven but anyway what a clinical display of football by Betis in our stadium. The start was promising as Dani Alonso netted a goal early but we couldn’t hold the advantage for long. First Finidi and five minutes later Solskjaer who races free and tucks one into the bottom corner give Betis a 2-1 lead into halftime. In the second half I made a couple of subs to attempt turning things around or at least levelling the score, but they were unsuccessful. Cañas adds a third goal in the 84^th minute of the game and in the very last minute we have Iru sent off due to a penalty. Sangroniz goes in for Gurria and stops the penalty.

Game 23

Hercules 1 – Barakaldo 4

Judging from the score at half-time, you would have never guessed that it would end up this way. We lost Arozarena early and as I didn’t have another right full-back to sub in, I had to place Matxon in that position. The idea was to keep the formation

until the end of the game. That plan however, was changed after Maestri levelled the game and our guys put the foot on the throttle, adding two more goals to make it 3-1. After that I decided to play with 3 central defenders at the back and sub in Uribarrena for Dani. Our attacking form didn’t stop just there and in the 80^th minute Gurria placed the final 4-1 while the clock swiftly ran away from Hercules. Great win.

Ok. No worries for the moment. Pizo Gomez will be up for this

Game 24

Lineup changes:

Lamar Alexis for Aitor Iru
Antonio Pizo Gomez for Pedro Arozarena

Barcelona 1 – Barakaldo 0

OK, time to face Primera Division’s leader in their home turf. Honestly, it wasn’t the beating that I had anticipated in my head. In fact, the first 15 minutes of the match we had the edge over them and we had got closer to their goal than what they did. But, it’s Barcelona and their class eventually showed when a cross from Ortega was connected by Rivaldo. We didn’t give up though, and in any of the corners taken by us, I expected a Bakero’s miracle header that would level the game. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen and close to the end of the game we had our biggest threat in Barcelona’s goal. A shot taken by Calle hit the crossbar and Gurria had the opportunity to send it in the back of the net with Vitor Baia smothering the ball and denying us. Proud of this lot for standing up in a stadium packed with more than 100.000 souls

Game 25

Barakaldo 3 – Deportivo La Coruña 0

Lineup changes:

Oscar Alkorta for Hector Victor Sanz
Aitor Iru for Lamar Alexis

Inspiring victory from our boys, who were solid on defense and didn’t allow a shot on target from Deportivo in the entire game. Alkorta made a very good comeback, and i plan to keep him a while in the lineup if he doesn’t get injured again. Brilliant victory!

Game 26

Sporting Gijon 0 – Barakaldo 0

Other than Sangroniz, the match looked like we didn’t show up at all at El Molinón. Sporting tried in every possible way but they were unsuccessful. We collect a good away point and Sangroniz is crowned Man Of The Match.

Game 27

Barakaldo 1 – Valladolid 1

Despite showing superiority during the match, we weren’t able to hold the lead with Turiel scoring after a scramble in the last minute of the first half. The second half was pretty much all ours, Valladolid only attempted one shot through Boutoille but Cesar denied us twice while we were trying to win. One point for each side

Before wrapping up the episode, let’s take a quick look at the standings

It’s pretty much a fact that we will end up this season at least in the top 8, so it’s a very good performance by this group of lads

After this match, we reached the end of episode number 5.

Stay tuned for our next episode with Barakaldo. See ya 🙂